There’s nothing like the coolness of fall air and the change in the leaves to inspire creation. Whether it’s crafting, baking or creating any type of art, fall is when my creativity peaks. Crafting can be a little expensive so I’ve been trying to find crafts that can save some money and utilize supplies I already have. I’ve come up with a series of holiday décor ideas using beads and jewelry supplies. The first blog in the series features candle holders. Most of my non-jewelry supplies were purchased at a dollar store, cutting down the cost of projects ...

Click pictures to enlarge

Welcome to the third installation of crafty office supplies. This weeks’ project are paperclip cups. The projects feature seed beads used in a chevron pattern cross stitch and strung into bead balls. Inspired by the colorful bead balls I’ve seen used in earrings and bracelets I thought I’d give it a try. I don’t claim to be an expert at making bead balls, in fact this was one of my first tries at it, but they were so much fun to make I think I might make more and cover the entire cup in ...

Click to enlarge pictures

As a continuation of the first crafty office supply blog, I decided to try my hand at beading pencil cups. I found that the wire mesh cups were the easiest to work with and if you explore a little you may find some interesting shaped cups. The basic black cylindrical cup came from an office supply store and the pink rectangular cup came from Ikea® as a two pack. One of the pink cups was spray painted with gold and metallic spray paints to coordinate with the metallic seed beads.

For the black pencil ...

Inspired by a cute paperclip… yes a paper clip, I thought I’d give my office supplies a refresh. Using E-6000®, pliers, a bead reamer, thumb tacks, paper clips and some super cute charms my office supplies took on a new life! They’re certainly a little different but I love how fun they are. I’m hoping the next time I turn in paperwork that my cute little clips will bring a smile to whoever is on the receiving end!

For the thumb tacks I simply took the loops off of the charms (using pliers) and ...

This week we are featuring a wonderful blog written by our very own Pattern and Project Creator Jennifer. She is the awesome person that creates every single project sheet that you see :-) So let's all give her a big warm Cousin Family welcome!

I love making beaded bookmarkers for friends and family, and I especially like to personalize them for the person or occasion. If you’re already giving a book as a gift then why not make it even more special with a handmade book marker?

A beaded bookmarker is simple to make and they’re a great way to ...

With summer approaching and the beach already beckoning, the search for that perfect pair of sandals is beginning all over for many of us. So when one of our office personnel came up with the fantastic idea of utilizing bases from our new Snap in Style program to create custom feet ware, we just HAD to try it out for a blog! In the end we found that with just 2 Snap in Style bases and a $7.87 pair of sandals, which are both available at Walmart, you can have your very own pair of ultra customizable fashion ...